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Reggie Lewis: Fallen Boston Celtics’ Franchise Player

*Originally published on Suite101.com in 2010; minor revisions made pertaining to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 

Before Paul Pierce joined the franchise, Reggie Lewis was selected to carry on the Boston Celtics’ NBA Championship legacy.

Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish were the Boston Celtics’ original Big Three.  After Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker were unable to lead the Celtics to an NBA Championship, Pierce teamed up with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to become the new Celtics’ Big Three.  However, before Boston drafted Pierce from the University of Kansas in the 1998 NBA Draft, they selected local collegiate star Reggie Lewis from Northeastern University in 1987. 


Rising Star

Reggie Lewis had garnered national attention as a star on the undefeated Dunbar High School team from Baltimore, Maryland.  Dunbar High School—with future NBA players Reggie Lewis, Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Williams, and David Wingate—had won 50 games in a row during one long stretch.   Lewis carried this into his NCAA Basketball career, becoming Northeastern University’s all-time leading scorer—and the ninth leading scorer in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball history—in four years of college basketball.  Averaging 22.2 points per game, Lewis had his jersey number 35 retired by Northeastern a couple years after graduating.    

In the NBA, Lewis quickly learned how to compete at the professional level.  After spending a year as an understudy to Larry Bird, he took over as a starter for the Celtics after Bird suffered a season-ending injury.  Lewis became an instant all-around threat, averaging 18.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game as well as shooting .486 from the field and .787 from the free throw line during the 1988-1989 season. 

After averaging similar numbers during the 1989-1990 season, Lewis became a full-time starter in the Celtics’ lineup.  Playing in all 82 games during the 1991-1992 regular season, he became the only player in Boston Celtics franchise history to have 100 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals, and 100 blocks in a single season.  Lewis was rewarded with Eastern Conference All-Star status in 1992.      

Carrying his regular season success into the playoffs, Lewis became a model for consistency and clutch play.  During the 1992 NBA Playoffs, Lewis asserted himself as one of the best players in the NBA, averaging 28.0 points per game in playoff series versus the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers.  This included three games scoring over 30 points and another game in which he scored 42 points in a thrilling overtime loss to the Cavaliers at Boston Garden.  


Team Captain & Franchise Player

With Bird retiring due to injuries and Kevin McHale pondering retirement, Lewis became the team captain and franchise player for the Celtics.  Lewis did not disappoint, tying career bests with 20.8 points and 1.5 steals per game and setting new personal bests with 3.7 assists per game and a .867 mark from the free throw line, making and attempting the most free throws of his career (made 326 FT and attempted 376 FT).  In addition to ranking tenth in the league in free-throw percentage, he ranked fifth in total minutes played.

Unfortunately, the energy and effort needed to play basketball professionally caught up to Lewis.  After scoring 17 points in only 13 minutes of Game 1 of the 1993 playoff series between the Celtics and the Charlotte Hornets, Lewis collapsed on the court and was immediately taken to the hospital.  In his absence, the Celtics hung on to win Game 1.  However, without their fallen team captain, Boston lost the next three games to lose the playoff series to Charlotte 3-1.


Lewis Seeks Heart & Medical Diagnosis

There was a lot of confusion over what was wrong with Lewis’s health.  Diagnoses from different doctors conflicted, with most signs pointing to complications with his heart.  Lewis appeared to have developed a common condition known as “athlete’s heart”, in which his heart became enlarged due to demanding physical activity. 

The first diagnosis—which was made by a team of cardiologists assembled by the Celtics’ team physician—recommended that Lewis was battling life-threatening cardiomyopathy, which is a condition of abnormal thickening of the heart that disrupts heartbeat and blood flow during physically demanding activity.  It was suggested that Lewis needed to retire from NBA basketball.

However, a second opinion that was sought from cardiologists at the hospital where Lewis’s wife had worked revealed a diagnosis that he had a benign fainting condition known as neurocardiogenic syncope.  As the Chief of this hospital’s Cardiology Clinic, Dr. Gilbert Mudge publically declared that Lewis could resume his NBA career.  

With health and safety in mind, Lewis and his wife sought a third opinion in Los Angeles.  Unfortunately, the cardiologists there were split about whether the first or second diagnosis was more accurate.  Reggie Lewis, his wife, and the Boston Celtics were left to wonder if the team captain and franchise player would ever play again.   


Tragic Death

Seeking to cautiously continue his NBA career, Lewis and his wife prepared to request that the Celtics provide a defibrillator and a cardiologist for every game.  Lewis also had outlined a strictly monitored workout/playing plan, which would be overseen by Dr. Mudge.  As had been recommended by the team of cardiologists in Los Angeles, Lewis began having his heart monitored. 

Known for being soft-spoken, Reggie Lewis spoke confidently with his coach from college that he would come back for the 1993-1994 season.  However, in late July 1993, Lewis again collapsed—this time while shooting around at Brandeis University.  At age 27, he was pronounced dead at the hospital less than three hours later. 

Reggie Lewis’s legacy lives on, as the Boston Celtics have honored him by retiring his jersey number 35.  A Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury, Massachusetts has also been named in his honor.  Overall, Reggie Lewis was a hardworking, gifted, and humble NBA player whose career, life, and tragic death will never be forgotten, as he carried out the Boston Celtics’ NBA Championship legacy as best as he could.             


Sources:

Basketball-Reference.com.  Accessed December 19, 2010. 

Gorman, Christine and Sam Allis.  “Did Reggie Lewis Have to Die?”  Time.  August 9, 1993.  From Time.com.  Accessed December 19, 2010. 

Twiss, Jeff.  “Remembering Reggie…”   July 2, 2003.  Celtics.com (NBA.com).  Accessed December 19, 2010.    

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